Burn Bright

Patricia Briggs' newest book in the Mercyverse came out yesterday.  I meant to have my review up before I went to bed but it was a LONG day for me.  Very long.  So I'm writing it out today.  I know I wrote a little bit about the first three Mercy Thompson books, but the Alpha and Omega series is different.  We meet Charles Cornick and his father Bran in the first Mercy book, where we learn that there is a problem with the Chicago packs.  Bran sends Charles to Chicago to get to the bottom of what's happeneing there.  In Chicago, Charles meets Anna, a young woman who was changed into a werewolf by force.  Anna is a unique kind of werewolf though--she's an Omega.  She has all the desire to protect as an Alpha, but none of the dominance.  She can bring peace to those around her.  She's a treasure.  You can read about their introduction in the short story "Alpha and Omega".  It has some really funny moments. 

The newest book is Burn Bright.  The Marrok, the leader of all the werewolves in North America, is away.  While Bran's away, the leadership of his pack falls to his son Charles and his mate Anna, as well as Leah, Bran's mate.  When one of the wolves on the fringes of the pack is killed, she reveals the presence of a traitor in the pack, a traitor who is behind an entire series of events that has changed the course of both series'.  Charles, Anna, and Asil, are the only three who know of the traitor.  Asil is a member of Bran's pack and rather volitle himself, but he is powerful and he is truly one of my favorite characters.  We don't see much of him in the Mercy books, but I love him.  They decide to hunt through the wildlings, the wolves on the fringe, to see if one of them might know who the traitor is.  While Charles gets to fight a pair of Viking twins and their brother, which is awesome,  Anna meets the tortured artist Wellesley.  His story is what sets events in place for Charles, Anna and Leah to hunt down the skinwalker who has been causing so much trouble. 

I was hoping for a lot with this addition to the Alpha and Omega series.  The last book left me wanting more, but this one left me satisfied, even if I did want more at the end.  That's just because of how Ms. Briggs ends here books--they all just kind of stop.  But the next book picks up and it works.  Something that I really enjoyed about this was that we finally got some background on some more characters.  For instance, Leah.  Leah has always seemed like a bit of witch, but, while we finally get a bit more background on her and her relationship with Bran.  It didn't necessarily make me like Leah, (her actions did that) but it did make me respect her a bit more.  It also seemed to connect the characters themselves more for future books, so I definitely can't wait to see how that turns out!

Keep reading!  I'm off to work on my next book!